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A Brief History of Halloween
With its origins rooted in Celtic culture, Samhain is last harvest and beginning of the much darker and colder parts of the year. During this time there was said to be an overlap in the worlds of the living and the dead. A time when the thinning of veils between worlds allowed spirits to roam freely. The Halloween traditions we see in the popular culture here in America have origins embedded in this holiday. Although we have gotten farther and farther away from the origins of the traditions and Halloween has morphed into something completely new. This holiday now is a time to dress up and be someone else, as well as a time to dance with our fears. Masks did have origins in the festival of long ago. These were worn when out after dark during this time to keep away the spirits and/or to blend in with them and thus remain safe. The classic ghost costume which used a bed sheet as a drape finds its origins in the burial shroud. It has been suggested that ghost impersonation was taken up by criminals as early as the 16th century Trick or treating might have begun with the tradition of offerings of food that were left outside the home to appease spirits and keep those indoors safe. Or perhaps the origins of this are found in the church’s celebration of all saints day on November 1st, when soul cakes were made to commemorate the dead and door to door visits for food were made primarily by the young and the poor. In 1st century AD Samhain celebrations were enfolded into some Roman celebrations like the festival of Pomona a Goddess of fruit and trees. This may be the origins of the the bobbing for apples game. Later the Church created All Saints Day nov 1 and All HallowsDay to All Hallows eve or as we now know it, Halloween The pumpkins we carve into jack o’ lanterns were originally carved from a turnip. The story was: Jack was so bad he got kicked out of hell He was given a coal to take with him’ He put it into a turnip to create a lantern Children then began to carve these in homage to jack Later pumpkins took over the turnip phase, whether this came from the abundance of this squash this time of year or the ease with which they were carved is unknown. Scots and Irish brought Samhain/All Hallows lore to the US in the 1840’s and Halloween began to become a night of mischief and trouble making which actually turned into mayhem. By 1920’s Halloween pranks in the US were becoming out of control; this was primarily adolescent boys and there was even talk of canceling halloween. Some work was done by different communities to make this night safer and more controlled and thus the more organized event of trick or treating was born. According to a Smithsonian article “The effort to restrain and recast the holiday continued after World War II, as adults moved Halloween celebrations indoors and away from destructive tricks, and gave the holiday over to younger and younger children. The Senate Judiciary Committee under President Truman recommended Halloween be repurposed as “Youth Honor Day” in 1950, hoping that communities would celebrate and cultivate the moral fiber of children. “ Divination was often practiced at this time of year as a means to discover one’s future husband Apple peels, burning hazelnuts and eating sugary walnut goodness that created dreams were all forms of love divination practiced during this time In 1998 when I spent Halloween in London, my American roommates and I were shocked that there were so few celebrations occurring to mark this holiday. There was very little in the shops by way of decoration or costume. In the early 2000’s however changes occurred around this celebration in the UK shifting to a more Americanized version of this holiday. In addition to Samahin, there are other celebrations of the dead during this time. Perhaps the most popular and well known is the Day of the Dead- this celebration corresponding with the same dates as Halloween and All Souls Day is said to have origins with the Aztecs who would use skulls to honor the dead. In the 16th century when the Spanairds conquered the Aztec empire they brought with them All Souls day and these traditions merged. There are many cultures that celebrate and honor their dead but not all do it during this time of year. How do you celebrate Samhain? What traditions do you hold for this time? Simple ideas for celebrating
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I’ve been visiting with the ghosts of the women I have been. The many incarnations of Self. They all have their wisdom.
And their folly. I’ve discarded many of them over time, leaving a shell behind like a hermit crab and moving into a new roomier shinier version of me. Each change a metamorphosis. . Each shift an initiation. This year has been one of those in between places. The place where I’ve left one shell and have yet to land in my new one. On Friday my therapist reminded me that I’ve been hanging in The Void. The Void is never a terribly comfortable place to reside. Especially for someone who likes to “do” and doesn’t like to wait. (And I am both). Every step forward this year has been met with resistance. The places of ease have been in the stillness. In the presence. And reminder after reminder that this is where I supposed to be right now have arisen. But I am stubborn. I want to make things happen. I feel impatient. We can not force growth. We cannot force development. We cannot force things into being that are not yet ready to be born. ‘ (and trust me, I’ve tried.) So I’ve been hanging with the ghosts of the women I’ve been. Borrowing their wisdom, rediscovering things I left behind that perhaps are ready for a polish and shine. Discovering new truths. New ideas. Certainty of what comes next. Fidgeting in my impatience to begin. Now! What has become so clear to me in the past couple of weeks is that the heart of Wise Woman Witchery has always been about helping women step into their power., Their magic. And of all the things I have taught and shared and offered, the magic of ceremony held in community is where the deepest transformations lie. I’m not entirely certain of the shape and form but I am feeling the call and I know for certain in the future I’ll be bringing more of these offerings. For now, as the season deepens and Samhain nears, I will be sending out my annual invitation to connect with your ancestors. Faster perhaps than a song.
A taste. A photo. A word. The scent of raw gasoline on my morning walk, sent me from the streets of my neighborhood in the predawn gloom, to the shed where our gas powered lawnmower was kept as a child, to the familiar exhaust fumes of my Dad’s old pick up and straight to my Dad himself. In that darkness, with one of my dogs pulling me along, that scent brought my Dad into clear focus for me. And I missed him. He has been gone now for 13 years. And that in and of itself feels impossible. Yet just as impossible was the simple smell of raw gas emanating from an old car, carrying me across time and space to childhood moments where my Dad was alive, and well and doing the everyday Dad things he did. Maybe you’ve had this experience. A scent drifts into your nose and the memories play across the screen of your mind’s eye. Or perhaps you feel someone with you. Someone who has been gone for a time. Someone who is brought back to life from the power of smell. It sounds kind of funny. And perhaps even impossible. Until you have it happen to you. During this time of year as the veils thin, we might find ourselves having a few more of these experiences than we normally do. Perhaps we glimpse someone in a crowd that we know to be long dead. Or a song that reminds us of them arrives at the perfect moment, or your dreams bring visitations from beyond. We all have the ability to connect with our beloved dead. And we may find certain times of year (like now, or birthdays or anniversaries) increase this ability. We also might find that different practices enhance our psychic skills or support our connection to the other side. During the 5th Annual Season of the Witch Virtual Conference we will have several opportunities to discover more about facilitating these connections.
These are just 4 of the Witchy Workshops that will be filling our time together. We begin in just 5 days on the evening of October 10th. I’ll be kicking things off with the class Hecate-Goddess of the Crossroads. You can find the whole line up and registration details here See you there! |
Emily Morrison MA, MFTArchives
February 2025
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